Christian Standard Bible

1After the death of Saul,#1Sm 31:1-5 David returned from defeating the Amalekites#1Sm 30:1-20 and stayed at Ziklag two days. 2On the third day a man with torn clothes and dust on his head#Jos 7:6; 1Sm 4:12 came from Saul’s camp. When he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage. 3David asked him, “Where have you come from?”

He replied to him, “I’ve escaped from the Israelite camp.”

4“What was the outcome? Tell me,” David asked him.

“The troops fled from the battle,” he answered. “Many of the troops have fallen and are dead. Also, Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”#1Sm 31:6

5David asked the young man who had brought him the report, “How do you know Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”

6“I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,”#1Sm 31:1-5; 1Ch 10:1-6 he replied, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear. At that very moment the chariots and the cavalry were closing in on him. 7When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, so I answered: I’m at your service. 8He asked me, ‘Who are you? ’ I told him: I’m an Amalekite.#Gn 36:12,16; Ex 17:8-16; Nm 24:20; Dt 25:19; 1Sm 15:1-34; 30:1-20; 1Ch 1:369Then he begged me, ‘Stand over me and kill me, for I’m mortally wounded,#1:9 LXX reads for terrible darkness has taken hold of me but my life still lingers.’#Jdg 9:5410So I stood over him and killed him because I knew that after he had fallen he couldn’t survive. I took the crown that was on his head and the armband that was on his arm, and I’ve brought them here to my lord.”

11Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them,#Jos 7:6; 2Sm 3:31; 13:31 and all the men with him did the same. 12They mourned, wept, and fasted until the evening#2Sm 3:35 for those who died by the sword — for Saul, his son Jonathan, the Lord’s people, and the house of Israel.

13David inquired of the young man who had brought him the report, “Where are you from?”

“I’m the son of a resident alien,” he said. “I’m an Amalekite.”

14David questioned him, “How is it that you were not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?” #1Sm 24:6; 26:6-12; 31:415Then David summoned one of his servants and said, “Come here and kill him!” The servant struck him, and he died.#2Sm 4:1016For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood is on your own head#Jos 2:19; Mt 27:24-25; Ac 18:5-6 because your own mouth testified against you by saying, ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed.’”

17David sang the following lament#2Sm 3:33; 2Ch 35:24-25 for Saul and his son Jonathan, 18and he ordered that the Judahites be taught The Song of the Bow. It is written in the Book of Jashar:#1:18 Or of the Upright#Jos 10:12-13